Capture of an Adult Amblystoma punctata on Staten Island^ 



Alanson Skinner 



On April lo, 191 5, the writer captured an adult spotted sala- 

 mander, Amblystoma punctata L., in a crevice of a decayed log 

 on the border of the Inkwell Pond, near Moravian Cemetery. 

 By reason of the unusual dryness of the season the water in 

 the pond was very low, and the old decayed damp log was ex- 

 posed below the usual water line. This probably accounts for 

 the fact that the salamander was preyed upon by some eight or 

 ten small leeches, which had attached themselves to its legs and 

 body. A ball of half a dozen were clustered in the pit of one 

 of its forelegs. Incidentally it may be mentioned that two 

 leeches were also found on the legs of a tree frog, Hyla picker- 

 ingi Storer, captured in a neighboring pond. 



Amblystoma punctata is now very rare on Staten Island, Per- 

 sonally I have seen but three other native adult specimens during 

 my entire experience on the island : one in Robinson's woods, cap- 

 tured by Mr. William T. Davis in my presence, a second one in 

 the same locality, and a third one in the woods near Moravian 

 Cemetery. In and near the latter locality I have taken several 

 immature specimens, beyond the larval stage, and in a pond near 

 Silver Lake an egg mass, presumably of this species. None of 

 these records were made within the past five years, however, and 

 it is probable that a few more only will ever be taken on the 

 island. The persistent burning of the woods has doomed this 

 creature to extinction in the near future, together with many 

 other interesting species of our local fauna, 



1 Presented at the meeting of the Section of Biology May 20, 1915. 



